"Good Night, And Good Luck," Loved It, Hated It
George Clooney is all over the media -- and not in an "Access Hollywood" kind of way. Unless you get your celebrity news from PBS' NewsHour, which aired an interview with Clooney Thursday night about his new film, "Good Night, And Good Luck." Clooney co-wrote, directed and starred in the film, which deals with CBS News' Edward R. Murrow and his public standoff with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s.
Since the film's subject matter fits quite nicely into Public Eye's purview, we'll certainly be seeing it, but here's a look at a few of the reviews that are already in. It looks like these critics either loved it … or hated it:
The New York Times' A.O. Scott was pretty clear:
"The title evokes Murrow's trademark sign-off, and I can best sum up my own response by recalling the name of his flagship program: See it now."Slate's Jack Shafer was substantially less impressed. He could not even restrain his ire to a single piece, instead expanding to two parts, in which he further explained the film's portrayal of "bad history":
"A terrific movie about the Murrow-McCarthy duel could be made, mind you, but Clooney and company ignore the material that might argue against their simple-minded thesis about Murrow, the era, and the press to produce an after-school special."If you thought a after-school-special comparison was the worst thing that could be said about a film, it's not. Stephen Hunter's Washington Post review:
"[Clooney] also leaves out nuance, context, empathy, anything that suggests the larger truth that nothing is as simple as it seems. The film, therefore, is like a child's view of these events, untroubled by complexity, hungry for myth and simplicity."Ouch. Well, Clooney can certainly feel redeemed by the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan, who judges the film quite differently:
"The son of a TV anchorman, Clooney had the nerve to believe that a drama of ideas could be as entertaining as 'Desperate Housewives.' He insisted that a fight for America's soul, a clash of values over critical intellectual issues like freedom of the press and the excesses of government, had an inherent intensity that would carry everything before it. And it does."The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle warns:
"Clooney's point will not please everybody. Clooney is suggesting that the fear McCarthy was trading in, the fear people have of getting blown up, is pervasive today; that the spirit of McCarthy, an authoritarianism disguised in patriotic language, lives on; and that TV news is no longer a match for it. At a time when movies are straining to be innocuous, 'Goodnight, and Good Luck' is a bold entry, to say the least. About half the public will also see it as patriotic."And in the Boston Globe, Ty Burr says the film:
"is a call to civic responsibility and renewed purpose in broadcast journalism that demands to be seen and discussed by audiences of all ages and political stripes. It's that important."It's a toss-up indeed, and we haven't even seen the movie yet. If you catch it this weekend, let us know what you think. And let's keep the discussion restricted to things media-related, folks, we all know George Clooney looks good, even in black and white.
On a side note, the movie seemingly has inspired an experiment in citizen journalism of sorts. Linked to the movie's official Website is Participate.net which urges readers to "take the media into your own hands." The site's purpose is explained:
"Like Edward Murrow and the dedicated journalists in Good Night and Good Luck, you can take action to help restore faith in the media's fundamental mission. Report it Now and become a guardian of the public interest."More:
"Do you know about an important story deserving of attention that the media has been missing or ignoring? Here's what we want you to do: Go out and report the truth. Film a news segment, record interviews, or write an editorial about something that moves you—civil rights abuses, government corruption, injustices of any stripe. Then post your work here, and we'll showcase it to the Participate community."Most interestingly, the site promises that the "best" reports "may be broadcast to a much wider audience by our media partners, PBS, Salon.com and XM Satellite Radio." It's the first we recall hearing about this project but we'll keep an eye on it.